Mar 04 2008
Week 2 – Readings
The Two Articles by Zevenbergen.
The biggest challenge for any teacher is pitching their lessons at a level where their students are at, and trying to cater to the differences within each classroom. The teachers language use within a classroom can affect the lower end of students more adversely, as more commonly, professional teachers are from middle class backgrounds and so inadvertently use language in a form that they are familiar with but not as familiar to students with a lower SES. Teacher awareness of this should enable some language modification to assist all students understanding.
The second reading was just plain annoying. A picture is worth 1000 words. The diagrams reveal the authors opinion of math teachers; that they are morons, which I found to be offensive. I question the intellect of the authors as they bumble on about how students confuse words such as “odd numbers because they are strange”, rulers being about kings and Queens and volume being about the noise of a box. Only dyslexic students or authors of such dribble would have this problem. The reality is that teachers do explain new words. If some students don’t hear it the first time, they will pick it up very quickly by doing relevant exercises and using the appropriate terms. Mathematics does have its own language including symbols to represent ideas and they are learnt as students progress. Care needs to be taken by students to read questions carefully as they need to understand what a particular question is actually asking them to do, which can sometimes be misunderstood.
The two most important thoughts from the readings is firstly to be clear and simple when speaking and giving explanations so all students have the greatest opportunity to understand. Secondly, ensure that when new words are introduced, that they have been properly explained in the maths context, with even a written explanation left on the board for reference.
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An interesting reaction to the second reading. I suspect that it may be written in a slightly condescending manner because it is aimed at primary teachers, many of whom are not confident with maths at all.
I enjoyed reading the second one more than the first because it actually gave examples such as the ones you didn’t like! But now that I think about it, you have a valid point. There aren’t that many homonyms and whatever else that students won’t be able to distinguish between.
Anyway I liked reading your post! Look forward to it next week!
I agree that the problems the authors suggest are a bit lame when it comes to students who have a grasp on the English language. I think the author may have been relating the problems to students who have english as their second language maybe?